Lost!
January 21, 2000 at 15:16:32
G'day All
I started prospecting in 1954 when I was nine years old. My father was working at a small gold mine, here in the wilds of the Northern Territory (Oz). My school day ended at lunchtime, and after a big lunch with the miners, I would spend the rest of the day panning the many gullies. That's where I killed my first dangerous black snake, and then immediately felt very sad for it. Later that day, I caught my gold fever. I will never forget the joy and my shaking hands and racing heart as I looked at my first BIG tail of gold.
At dawn the next day (Sunday) my father suggested that we look for the lost gold mine (Wandi) to the south. With my brand new fever raging, I enthusiastically agreed. So off we went, with a plastic airline bag and a bottle of water and a tin of sardines. It was a beautiful cool dry season day and the country was full of big kangaroos, water buffalo, wild pigs and millions of singing and screeching birds. I was eagerly leading the way at a fast pace, and like the Aboriginals, I was burning the country as I went. On almost every ridge, I would find the old overgrown track, winding its way to the gold.
Sometime in the afternoon, my father managed to catch up with me and suggest that we turn for home. I reluctantly agreed, as long as we could go back in a different direction! We spent the cool, hungry night sleeping on top of a hill.
As I stood shivering at daylight the next morning, I looked out at the never-ending hills, with fear in my heart. I had no idea of where the mine was, and after asking my father I knew that we were lost.
Tears came to my eyes, as I realized that we could be out there forever. "She'll be right mate!" said my father, as we headed down the hill. (90 degrees off course!).
The weather changed to still and hot. My sandals fell apart early in the day and then my feet started bleeding from the burnt grass stubble. I tore my jacket in half and we used it to bind my feet. I cursed myself for burning the country. That night we camped on a small drying waterhole and caught some fish by hand, which we ate raw. That was a BAD mistake! I vomited the fish and the last of my bile. (salt etc).
Back at the mine the search for us was in full swing, with several search parties and two aircraft. But I owe my life to the lateral thinking of an unknown miner. As I was vomiting my life away, he was preparing three big bundles of explosives. At sunset, he set them off a few seconds apart on top of the hill near the mine. We were about fifteen miles away and heard them clearly. I have never heard such a wonderful sound in my life!
We set off in the right direction the next day, straight into miles of dry, hot, rocky hills. I was very weak and with no salt in my body, I would vomit our little water within a few minutes of drinking. At about three in the afternoon, my father and I were both in a bad way, with no water. We were staggering down a dry creek and I started praying for the second time in my life. (It worked the first time!) Then I saw one of the most wonderful sights of my life. A big, strong, black aboriginal followed by several others and a Northern Territory policeman. He was reaching for his salt tablets as I staggered across towards him. After salt and water, I was almost back to normal and very hungry. A few hours later I was back in the mess stuffing myself with food.
My father was immediately sacked from the mine and the next day we headed back to our little sailing boat in Darwin. We then spent an enjoyable six months sailing around, camping and fishing, with no work and no school. Then we wrecked our boat, but that's another story.
Since then, dozens of people have got lost here and most have never been found. The toll includes a nine-year-old boy and an elderly American prospector. None of them had the benefit of a lateral thinking miner, like I did. (By the way, the mine management threatened to sack him for unlawful use of explosives!) I, and others, have lobbied the police to use explosives but they are not interested. The police and the army will spend a maximum of one week searching. So the message is: control your fever and DON'T GET LOST!
Good luck to All
Dave
 Follow Ups:
Post a Followup
This forum has been discontinued - please use our new forum
Comments:
|
